Monday, November 28, 2016

What are Somali Refugees doing in the US & Why are we in Somalia?



On the evening of 4 December 1992, U.S. President George H. W. Bush made an address to the nation, informing them that U.S. troops would be sent to Somalia. The U.S. contribution would be known as Operation Restore Hope, which joined a multinational force and became known as the United Task Force (UNITAF). 

Here we are 20 years later with a Somali jihadi trying to kill Americans in Ohio.

NY TIMES:


In Somalia, U.S. Escalates a Shadow War







Ugandan troops serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia in 2012. About 200 to 300 American Special Operations troops work with soldiers from African nations to carry out raids, senior American military officials said. Reuters 
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified a clandestine war in Somalia over the past year, using Special Operations troops, airstrikes, private contractors and African allies in an escalating campaign against Islamist militants in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation.

Hundreds of American troops now rotate through makeshift bases in Somalia, the largest military presence since the United States pulled out of the country after the “Black Hawk Down” battle in 1993.

The Somalia campaign, as it is described by American and African officials and international monitors of the Somali conflict, is partly designed to avoid repeating that debacle, which led to the deaths of 18 American soldiers. But it carries enormous risks — including more American casualties, botched airstrikes that kill civilians and the potential for the United States to be drawn even more deeply into a troubled country that so far has stymied all efforts to fix it.

The Somalia campaign is a blueprint for warfare that President Obama has embraced and will pass along to his successor. It is a model the United States now employs across the Middle East and North Africa — from Syria to Libya — despite the president’s stated aversion to American “boots on the ground” in the world’s war zones. This year alone, the United States has carried out airstrikes in seven countries and conducted Special Operations missions in many more.

American officials said the White House had quietly broadened the president’s authority for the use of force in Somalia by allowing airstrikes to protect American and African troops as they combat fighters from the Shabab, a Somali-based militant group that has proclaimed allegiance to Al Qaeda.

In its public announcements, the Pentagon sometimes characterizes the operations as “self-defense strikes,” though some analysts have said this rationale has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is only because American forces are now being deployed on the front lines in Somalia that they face imminent threats from the Shabab.

America’s role in Somalia has expanded as the Shabab have become bolder and more cunning. The group has attacked police headquarters, bombed seaside restaurants, killed Somali generals and stormed heavily fortified bases used by African Uniontroops. In January, Shabab fighters killed more than 100 Kenyan troops and drove off with their trucks and weapons.

The group carried out the 2013 attack at the Westgate mall, which killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 175 in Nairobi, Kenya. More recently it has branched into more sophisticated forms of terrorism, including nearly downing a Somali airliner in February with a bomb hidden in a laptop computer.


United States Marines advancing in Mogadishu, Somalia, to quell violence in 1993, about seven months before the “Black Hawk Down” battle. Corinne Dufka/Reuters 

About 200 to 300 American Special Operations troops work with soldiers from Somalia and other African nations like Kenya and Uganda to carry out more than a half-dozen raids per month, according to senior American military officials. The operations are a combination of ground raids and drone strikes.

The Navy’s classified SEAL Team 6 has been heavily involved in many of these operations.

Once ground operations are complete, American troops working with Somali forces often interrogate prisoners at temporary screening facilities, including one in Puntland, a state in northern Somalia, before the detainees are transferred to more permanent Somali-run prisons, American military officials said.

The Pentagon has acknowledged only a small fraction of these operations. But even the information released publicly shows a marked increase this year. The Pentagon has announced 13 ground raids and airstrikes thus far in 2016 — including three operations in September — up from five in 2015, according to data compiled by New America, a Washington think tank. The strikes have killed about 25 civilians and 200 people suspected of being militants, the group found.

The strikes have had a mixed record. In March, an American airstrike killed more than 150 Shabab fighters at what military officials called a “graduation ceremony,” one of the single deadliest American airstrikes in any country in recent years. But an airstrike last month killed more than a dozen Somali government soldiers, who were American allies against the Shabab.

Outraged Somali officials said the Americans had been duped by clan rivals and fed bad intelligence, laying bare the complexities of waging a shadow war in Somalia. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the Pentagon was investigating the strike.

Some experts point out that with the administration’s expanded self-defense justification for airstrikes, a greater American presence in Somalia would inevitably lead to an escalation of the air campaign.

“It is clear that U.S. on-the-ground support to Somali security forces and African Union peacekeepers has been stepped up this year,” said Ken Menkhaus, a Somalia expert at Davidson College. “That increases the likelihood that U.S. advisers will periodically be in positions where Al Shabab is about to launch an attack.”

Peter Cook, the Department of Defense spokesman, wrote in an email, “The DoD has a strong partnership with the Somali National Army and AMISOM forces from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi operating in Somalia. They have made steady progress pressuring Al Shabab.”

The escalation of the war can be seen in the bureaucratic language of the semiannual notifications that Mr. Obama sends to Congress about American conflicts overseas.


The ruins of the Jazeera Palace Hotel in Mogadishu last year. The Shabab claimed responsibility for the fatal bombing. Feisal Omar/Reuters 

The Somalia passage in the June 2015 notification is terse, saying American troops “have worked to counter the terrorist threat posed by al-Qa’ida and associated elements of al-Shabaab.”
In June, however, the president told Congress that the United States had become engaged in a more expansive mission.

Besides hunting members of Al Qaeda and the Shabab, the notification said, American troops are in Somalia “to provide advice and assistance to regional counterterrorism forces, including the Somali National Army and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces.”

American airstrikes, it said, were carried out in defense of the African troops and in one instance because Shabab fighters “posed an imminent threat to U.S. and AMISOM forces.”

At an old Russian fighter jet base in Baledogle, about 70 miles from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, American Marines and private contractors are working to build up a Somali military unit designed to combat the Shabab throughout the country.

Soldiers for the military unit, called Danab, which means lightning in Somali, are recruited by employees of Bancroft Global Development, a Washington-based company that for years has worked with the State Department to train African Union troops and embed with them on military operations inside Somalia.
Michael Stock, the company’s founder, said the Danab recruits received initial training at a facility in Mogadishu before they were sent to Baledogle, where they go through months of training by the Marines. Bancroft advisers then accompany the Somali fighters on missions.

Mr. Stock said the goal was to create a small Somali military unit capable of battling the Shabab without repeating the mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to build up large armies.

Still, American commanders and their international partners are considering a significant expansion of the training effort to potentially include thousands of Somali troops who would protect the country when African Union forces eventually left the country.

Maj. Gen. Kurt L. Sonntag, the commander of the American military’s task force in Djibouti, the only permanent American base in Africa, said the proposed training plan would increase and enhance the Somali national security forces, including the army, national guard and national police.

“The specific numbers of forces required is currently being assessed,” General Sonntag said. He added that it must be large enough to protect the Somali people but “affordable and sustainable over time, in terms of Somalia’s national budget.”
Independent experts and aid organizations say the Somali Army is still largely untrained, poorly paid and poorly equipped, and years away from coalescing regional militias into a unified army.

American policy makers tried to avoid direct involvement in Somalia for years after the Black Hawk Down episode. But in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Special Operations troops and the Central Intelligence Agency began paying Somali warlords to hunt down Qaeda operatives in the country.

In 2006, the United States gave clandestine support to Ethiopian troops invading the country to overthrow an Islamist movement that had taken control of Mogadishu. But the brutal urban warfare tactics of the Ethiopian troops created support for an insurgent movement that called itself Al Shabab, which means “The Youth.”

American involvement in Somalia was intermittent for several years afterward, until the Westgate attack refocused Washington’s attention on the threat the Shabab posed beyond Somalia.

The Shabab still control thousands of square miles of territory across Somalia. A Somali university student who travels in and out of Shabab areas said the group’s fighters were becoming increasingly suspicious, even paranoid, checking the phones, cameras, computers and documents of anyone passing through their territory, constantly on guard for another American attack. He said Shabab fighters were becoming younger, with a vast majority under 25 and many as young as 10.

American law enforcement officials think that the bomb that nearly brought down the commercial jet in February was most likely made by a Yemeni who is believed to have constructed other laptop bombs in Somalia. Pictures from an airport X-ray machine show the explosive packed into the corner of the laptop, next to a nine-volt battery. Several aviation experts said that the bomb was obvious and that airport security officials in Mogadishu might have intentionally allowed it through.

The bomb exploded about 15 minutes after takeoff, punching a hole through the fuselage and killing the man suspected of carrying the bomb on board, though the pilot was able to land safely. Aviation experts said that if the bomb had exploded a few minutes later, with the cabin fully pressurized, the fuselage would have most likely blown apart, killing all of the approximately 80 people on board.

102 comments:

  1. .

    Translation:

    Just as there was no al Queda in Iraq until 2004, one year after the US invaded Iraq, there was no al Shabab in Somalia until 2007, one year after the US assisted invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia.

    Obama is expanding his interpretation of his authority granted under the 2001 authorization to use force against al Qaeda. One more present left for Trump.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somalis ?
      What they doin' here ?
      Head em' up
      Move em' out
      Of USA

      Delete
    2. Fore they behead you off
      Head you out
      Take your girlfriend
      And take your promised land....

      Delete
  2. Rollin' rollin' rollin'
    Keep them doggies movin'

    Ship em' out
    Build a gate

    Rawhide !



    Move 'em on, head 'em up
    Head 'em up, move 'em on
    Move 'em on, head 'em up
    Rawhide
    Cut 'em out, ride 'em in
    Ride 'em in, cut 'em out
    Cut 'em out, ride 'em in
    Rawhide
    Keep movin', movin', movin'
    Though they're disapprovin'
    Keep them doggies movin', rawhide
    Don't try to understand 'em
    Just rope, throw an' brand 'em
    Soon we'll be livin' high an' wide

    Rawhide !

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KPplYp7K7M

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s

      The Man With The Gun, The Man Named Paladin

      Paladin Paladin Where Do You Roam

      Far Far From Home

      A Knight Without Armour In A Savage Land....

      With His Sidekick Quirk
      And The Horseboy Smirk

      Where Do You Roam ?
      So Far Far From Home...

      Delete
  3. Davy Davy Crockett
    King Of The Wild Frontier

    He Give His Word
    And He Give His Hand
    So His Injun Friends
    Could Keep Their Land

    Went Off To Congress
    And Served Us WELL

    Davy Davy Crokett

    Went Off West To Follow The Sun !

    Followin' His Legend Into The West !

    Davy Davy Crokett

    King Of The Wild Frontier !!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txcRQedoEyY

    He Kilt Him A Bar When He Was Only Three

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Big John
      Big BAD John

      Kinda Broad In The Shoulder
      Kinda Slim At The Hips

      Sent A Louisiana Man
      To The Promised Land
      A Giant Of A Man..
      Big John
      Big BAD John

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnHprUGKF0

      Delete
  4. Best policy ?

    Keep them out of here.

    Stay out of there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Artan did an interview with OSU’s campus newspaper, The Lantern, in August about his fear as a Muslim, of praying on campus.

    ...

    On Monday morning, at approximately 9:50 a.m., Artan drove his Honda Civic alone, over a sidewalk near OSU’s Watts Hall striking as many as 10 pedestrians, some OSU students, according to OSU’s Public Safety Director, Monica Moll.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. O'Reilly is ripping apart all the B.S. about how wonderful the medical sysrem is in Cuba.

      All the docs that can get out have left.

      Great shortage of doctors, competent or not, mostly not.

      Don't like sheets on your hospital bed ?

      Cuba is the place for you....

      Venezuela modeled its medical system on Cuba's.

      In Venezuela the corpses are beginning to explode in the hospitals.

      Medical drugs ?

      You got to be joking.

      But if you like cocaine....

      Delete
    2. And the education system is just one big indoctrination school.

      Delete
    3. .

      Gee, I wonder how much of an effect the 50 years of US embargo had on Cuba's ability to get medicines or pays for doctors?

      Somehow, I doubt it had much effect on Castro or his administration.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      And the education system is just one big indoctrination school.

      :o)

      And ours isn't? You don't have to worry about being forced to learn about Western Civilization in our elite schools. In fact, they discourage it. Civics? Forget it. To suggest it is a microaggression. They'll be rioting in their safe spaces.

      .

      Delete

    5. Gee, I wonder how much of an effect the 50 years of US embargo had on Cuba's ability to get medicines or pays for doctors?

      Somehow, I doubt it had much effect on Castro or his administration.


      You're correct there, but I fail to see any point to your statement.


      And ours isn't? You don't have to worry about being forced to learn about Western Civilization in our elite schools. In fact, they discourage it. Civics? Forget it. To suggest it is a microaggression. They'll be rioting in their safe spaces.


      There's a boatload of options in the USA.

      You don't like elite schools these days ?

      Go to some other school.

      No such option in Cuba.

      Again, a comment without a point.

      Delete
    6. Also, one can attend Quirk's Seminars, LLC for an intense educational experience in everything from Capitalism for Everyone to Captivating Babes.

      Delete
    7. (Quirk's Seminars was an early victim of Castro, and has been banned there for 50 years)

      Delete
    8. Bob,

      Our obsession with Cuba cost us hundreds of billions of dollars.

      How so?

      The elites throughout Latin America are and were detested. Our focus on Cuba and the Castro brothers played into the narrative on US imperialism in Latin America. China seized on the opening and let it be known that they were open for business.

      * Business business
      * Minding their own business
      * Not meddling in the political and social affairs of others.

      China is now the biggest trader in all of Latin America. It has industrial parks on both ends of the Panama Canal. It is pouring hundreds of billions into minerals and infrastructure projects and controls vast wealth. What did we get for our 60 year jihad against Cuba? Not much.

      Delete
  7. BEZOS BUSTER: Trump adds antitrust expert to transition team....DRUDGE

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A PASSENGER who went on a pro-Donald Trump rant on a flight and insulted people who didn’t vote for the US President-elect has received a life ban from flying.

    ...

    In a statement, Delta said: “The behaviour we see in this video does not square with our training or culture and follow up will continue so we can better ensure our employees will know they will be fully supported to make the right decisions when these issues arise.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm still waiting on Canada's flagship news source to write an article on the similarities of Kanye West and B. Obama. Should I hold my breath?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Never hold your breath except when undergoing a Breathalyzer Test."

      Modern American Adage

      Delete
  10. Both Obama and Biden are skipping Fidel's send off.

    A wise decision.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even Trudeau has wised up.

      Trudeau to skip funeral after backlash....DRUDGE

      Delete
  11. A MARRIED UK teaching assistant who admitted performing a string of sex acts on a schoolboy while on a plane home from a school trip has been jailed for more than two years.

    ...

    “Meldrum-Jones abused that trust and must face the consequences of her grossly inappropriate behaviour.

    “Her victim has struggled to come to terms with what happened and it is vital that children who are subjected to sexual misconduct, get the necessary support to move forward with their lives.”

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wisconsin Insider on Recount: Expect MASSIVE DNC Voter Fraud to be Exposed

    A Wisconsin insider on 4Chan said to expect the recount to expose massive DNC fraud.

    The Anonymous “insider” says the recount will reveal people out of state voting, non citizens voting, people voting numerous times, and nursing home violations.

    Be ready for Trump to improve his margin of victory.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/11/wisconsin-insider-recount-expect-massive-dnc-voter-fraud-exposed/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fantastic.

      :)

      One of my favorites is always the nursing home violations....

      ....because we had a City Councilwoman here who always worked the nursing homes hard....not that she committed fraud, mind you, but I always liked her use of a captive audience....

      Delete
  13. Tim Kaine Tweets About Gun Violence at OSU After Islamist Knife Attack

    Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s VP candidate, is back in the news.

    Today he tweeted after the incident at Ohio State –
    Deeply saddened by the senseless act of gun violence at Ohio State this morning.

    Praying for the injured and the entire Buckeye community.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/11/tim-kaine-tweets-about-gun-violence-at-ohio-state/

    ReplyDelete
  14. North Korea called for three days of mourning and said it would keep flags at half mast to honour Castro, its state news agency said.

    In Japan, Kyodo said a senior lawmaker would head to Cuba in lieu of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Brazilian President Michel Temer was also not attending.

    But Robert Mugabe, the 92-year-old president of Zimbabwe, was expected to arrive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Be a nice touch if Mugabe kicked the bucket while in Havana.

      Delete
  15. Jill Stein Missed The Pennsylvania Recount Deadline

    Stein should be sued for fraud.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe she used the money to buy a place on an island in the lake next to Bernie ?

      Delete
  16. "This is fascinating," said Dan Katz, 35, a financial analyst from California wearing an Oakland A's baseball cap, who attended the Castro tribute.

    "In America, he's talked about as an evil dictator. Here he's a national hero.

    I know it's tough to tell what people really think, but it seems like he's really important to them."

    ReplyDelete
  17. I suggest Hindus are a much better bet than Moslems for the USA....


    MUSLIM REFUGEE BRINGS JIHAD TERROR AT OHIO STATE
    And the Left uses it to call for…gun control.


    November 29, 2016 Robert Spencer

    Ohio State University student Abdul Razak Ali Artan on Monday morning set off a fire alarm on campus, the drove his car into the crowd of students evacuating the building. Then he jumped out of his car and began stabbing people with a butcher knife. In a departure from the usual denial and obfuscation, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs was refreshingly honest, saying: “I think we have to consider that it is” a terror attack. Leftists took advantage of the occasion to call for gun control, which might have been a cogent argument were it not for one inconvenient detail: Artan didn’t have a gun. But above all, Artan was a “refugee”: the attack vindicates President-elect Trump on Muslim immigration.

    Artan was no poster boy for gun control, but he may have been one for the Islamic State, which issued this call in September 2014:

    So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops of the tawaghit. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be….If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….

    Intriguingly, before his jihad attack, Artan demonstrated that he knew well how to play the victim card. He appeared in Ohio State University’s The Lantern, in a feature entitled “Humans of Ohio State.” In it, he spoke about being “scared” about performing his Islamic prayers in public:

    I just transferred from Columbus State. We had prayer rooms, like actual rooms where we could go to pray because we Muslims have to pray five times a day. There’s Fajr, which is early in the morning, at dawn. Then Zuhr during the daytime, then Asr in the evening, like right about now. And then Maghrib, which is like right at sunset and then Isha at night. I wanted to pray Asr. I mean, I’m new here. This is my first day. This place is huge, and I don’t even know where to pray. I wanted to pray in the open, but I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think, what’s going to happen. But, I don’t blame them, it’s the media that put that picture in their heads so they’re just going to have it and it, it’s going to make them feel uncomfortable. I was kind of scared right now. But I just did it. I relied on God. I went over to the corner and just prayed.

    Abdul Razak Artan, “third-year in logistic management,” is dead now, so The Lantern can’t go back to him and ask him if he understands better now why people might be nervous about Muslims praying, and why it isn’t just the fault of “the media.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In a Facebook post, Artan played the victim again, but sounded a more ominous note. He referenced jihad mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki and declared: “I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured EVERYWHERE. … I can’t take it anymore. America! Stop interfering with other countries … [if] you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks.”

      Meanwhile, Artan’s attack shows the wisdom of President-elect Trump’s call for a temporary moratorium on immigration from countries that are hotbeds of jihad terror activity. KARE11.com reported that “Artan was a Somali refugee and Ohio State student who left his homeland with his family in 2007. They lived in Pakistan before coming to the U.S., where Artan became a permanent resident in 2014.” Somalia and Pakistan: two epicenters of the global jihad. If Trump’s proposal becomes American law, Abdul Artan would never have entered the United States, and Monday’s jihad attack at Ohio State University would never have happened.

      There is abundant evidence that admitting Muslim refugees is a jihad risk. In February 2015, the Islamic State boasted it would soon flood Europe with as many as 500,000 refugees. And the Lebanese Education Minister said in September 2015 that there were 20,000 jihadis among the refugees in camps in his country. Meanwhile, 80% of migrants who have come to Europe claiming to be fleeing the war in Syria aren’t really from Syria at all.

      So why are they claiming to be Syrian and streaming into Europe, and now the U.S. as well? An Islamic State operative gave the answer when he boasted in September 2015, shortly after the migrant influx began, that among the flood of refugees, 4,000 Islamic State jihadis had already entered Europe. He explained their purpose: “It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world, and we will have it soon, inshallah.” These Muslims were going to Europe in the service of that caliphate: “They are going like refugees,” he said, but they were going with the plan of sowing blood and mayhem on European streets. As he told this to journalists, he smiled and said, “Just wait.”

      All nine of the jihadis who murdered 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had just entered Europe as refugees. And now the same murderous impulse has come to Ohio State University, courtesy of another “refugee.” How many more such jihad attacks must there be before the wisdom of a moratorium on immigration from jihad hotspots is universally recognized?

      https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264981/muslim-refugee-brings-jihad-terror-ohio-state-robert-spencer

      Delete
  18. Woman who recover from long sexy night finally over the hump.

    ReplyDelete

  19. More stupidity from the nitwits on the WaPo editorial board. Are they just that stupid that they can't see their own prejudices in their scree leveled against Trump for saying the vote was rigged while excusing Clinton's part in this whole recount mess?

    Trump's preoccupation with phantom voting fraud endangers our democracy

    According to the WaPo Hillary's participation in Stein's scam is based on 'principle'; however, Trump's comments 'endanger our democracy'.

    According to WaPo, sure there are three parties involved, and sure Stein is only doing it for the fundraising and to question the final results, but Hillary did it reluctantly 'on principle'...

    Yet it was Mr. Trump’s reaction that was the most corrosive.

    Lord love a duck, these people are nutz.

    .


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent comment, Quirk.

      And, I was just listening to a voting expert on Tucker Carlson who confirmed there is some real amount of illegal alien voting going on, not 3 million, but maybe a third of that....

      It's too easy to get registered. A utility bill and your own word often is enough.

      Delete
    2. It's not called The Washington Compost for nothing.

      Delete
  20. Hillary would be in hell already if she could fit in a hand basket.

    (stolen from a 'source')

    ReplyDelete
  21. Quirk once told me:

    You can learn a lot by studying the ads, Bobo

    I think he was on to something.

    Now that the election is over, and a saner group is taking over, and the fear of Armageddon is receding, survival foods are going for next to nothing on the stations I watch.

    Lesson: people are calming, even the Democrats.

    ReplyDelete
  22. November 29, 2016
    The States' Trump Card against the Fed
    By Fritz Pettyjohn

    A fourth branch of government was created by Article V of the Constitution, superior to the other three. It consists of 7,382 voting members, distributed in the 50 States. In order to act, this fourth branch, which I call the Federal Assembly, must organize itself into a two-thirds supermajority of the States in order to make a proposal. Majorities in both houses of a state legislature in 34 states must agree on the subject matter to be addressed by an Amendment Convention. And then, once the Amendment Convention agrees on the language of the proposed Amendment, an even more challenging three-fourths supermajority of states is required to adopt it.

    It's hard, and it's never been done in the 229 years we've had the Constitution – not until now. By using their Article V power, in 2017, the states, and the people, will, for the very first time, exercise their sovereignty. And it is full sovereignty, plenary, unlimited. Aside from not reducing the equal suffrage of the states in the Senate, the Federal Assembly can do anything the people want it to do. It's popular sovereignty. It's the people showing the federal government who's in charge.


    Two of the other three branches of government, the president and the Supreme Court, have no role to play in any of this. The federal courts do not have jurisdiction over the states when they are exercising their Article V powers, and the president has no involvement whatsoever. The third branch, Congress, has only a ministerial role to play. The only discretion Congress has is in selecting the time and place of the Amendment Convention, and of choosing the method of ratification – by the state legislatures or by state conventions.

    In order to organize a two-thirds supermajority, the States may choose to meet in a preliminary Convention of States. This was last done in 1861, in Washington. State delegations assembled to try to avert the Civil War, but they didn't have enough time, and they failed. The previous Convention of States, held in Nashville in 1850, was more successful. It helped form the Compromise of 1850, which stopped the movement toward secession. But the Dred Scott decision overturned the Compromise of 1850, and the Civil War soon followed.

    There will be a Convention of States dealing with the Balanced Budget Amendment this summer. It will be the first in 156 years. We have been so conditioned into thinking of ourselves as a nation that we've forgotten that we have another political identity. I live in California, so I'm a Californian. And California has rights under Article V, and I am going to personally ask my assemblyman, Frank Bigelow, and my state senator, Tom Berryhill, to introduce an Article V Resolution calling for an Amendment Convention for the purpose of proposing a Congressional Term Limits Amendment. You should do the same with your state legislators. We're going to get a Balanced Budget Amendment, so what's next? It is obviously Term Limits.

    The campaign for congressional term limits is completely bipartisan. Every Bernie Sanders voter would be for it. They all hate Congress. Everybody hates Congress. The only people who don't like term limits are politicians, because it interferes with their careers at the public trough.

    U.S. Term Limits, founded by Howard Rich in 1991, and the U.S. Term Limits Foundation, headed by John Aglialoro, have only one state, Florida, of the 34 needed for a Term Limits Amendment Convention, but that's going to change in a hurry. Once state legislators become aware of the power of the Federal Assembly, they'll want to use it again and again. The Balanced Budget Amendment comes first, followed by Term Limits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The campaign for congressional term limits is completely bipartisan. Every Bernie Sanders voter would be for it. They all hate Congress. Everybody hates Congress. The only people who don't like term limits are politicians, because it interferes with their careers at the public trough.

      U.S. Term Limits, founded by Howard Rich in 1991, and the U.S. Term Limits Foundation, headed by John Aglialoro, have only one state, Florida, of the 34 needed for a Term Limits Amendment Convention, but that's going to change in a hurry. Once state legislators become aware of the power of the Federal Assembly, they'll want to use it again and again. The Balanced Budget Amendment comes first, followed by Term Limits.

      The third priority of the states will be discussed, informally, at this summer's Convention of States. I suspect that it will be another of the Liberty Amendments, popularized by Mark Levin.

      Levin has played no role in the Balanced Budget campaign or in the campaign for term limits. He supports a competing proposal, called, misleadingly, "The Convention of States." It calls for a wide open Amendment Convention, with the authority to propose a series of amendments, in an all-out assault on the federal government. But this approach has a fatal flaw, and despite spending millions of dollars, it has only eight of the needed 34 states.

      What Levin doesn't understand is that there are different political coalitions that support different amendments. The coalition that is succeeding with the Balanced Budget Amendment is different from the coalition supporting term limits. Including both, within one Article V Amendment Convention, doubles your opposition. Some state legislators want a Balanced Budget Amendment but not term limits, and vice versa. It's Politics 101, but Levin is a lawyer, not a politician, and he doesn't understand politics.

      The entire Article V movement is opposed by President-Elect Trump. He was the only Republican candidate in opposition. His base includes the alt right, and these misguided souls think Article V is a threat to the Constitution and the work of the devil. Article V will happen despite Trump and the fringe groups that support him. In fact, a president, no matter who he is, has no role to play under Article V. The states, if they so choose, can use it as a weapon against a tyrannical president. As a matter of law, Article V could be used to impeach a president, or any federal official. Trump wants to centralize power and control it. Article V is about the dispersal of power to the states and the people.

      The great value of this summer's Convention of States is educational. People will wonder: what is a Convention of States? And some of them will even read Article V of the Constitution to figure out what all this means. While they're at it, they might want to look at the Bill of Rights and read it – all of it, including the 9th and 10th Amendments. What do those words mean?

      The Convention of States of 2017 will happen in a historic location, one that played a central role in our history. It's a place identified with our greatest president, excepting Washington himself. It will be on the 250th anniversary of his birth. And it will be in his honor, and that of his mother, the mother of her country. She, not U.S. Grant, should have her likeness on the $50 bill. This too may happen.

      Fritz Pettyjohn was the chairman of Reagan for President, Alaska, in 1979-80 and is currently working with Lew Uhler's National Tax Limitation Committee and Bill Fruth's Balanced Budget Inc. He blogs at Reagan Project.com.


      Delete
    2. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/11/the_states_trump_card_against_the_fed.html

      Since I am a member of this august group, The Convention of States organization, and get email from them often, I shall keep you informed.

      Delete

  23. Donald J. Trump
    ✔ ‎@realDonaldTrump

    Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

    6:55 AM - 29 Nov 2016


    That's your man Deuce, that's your man.

    ReplyDelete
  24. .

    The Russians Are Coming

    Above, I blasted the WaPo for their editorial policy; however, their standard reporting could be even worse.

    Around six weeks ago, with the hacking of the DNC and Podesta, stories were posted that the Russians were trying to manipulate the election in Trump's favor. The story was accepted by much of the MSM (left and right) almost immediately. CNN, NYT, and the WaPO were the biggest promoters on the left but right-wing rags like the Weekly Standard and National Review on the right also bought into it. Both left and right, jumped on the story, the left to help Hillary and the warmongers on the right because they were worried about Trump's talk of trying to get along with Russia.

    I've said from the beginning it all sounded like bullshit to me. There were too many conflicts of interest involved among the so-called 'experts' pressing the case and the 17 intelligence agencies who only a day after the first leaks came out said that they were 99% certain the Russians were responsible now, two months later, still aren't able to conclusively and specifically say were exactly the hacks came from.

    A couple months after the leaks, the story is still widely reported; however, now it has gone even further by stating the Russians are also responsible for all the ‘fake news’ that came out during the campaign. You know, stories like “Pope Endorses Trump.”

    The other day WaPo technology reporter Craig Timberg posted this story…

    Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
  25. {...}

    The WaPO story starts out…

    The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation…

    It goes on to claim over 200 news agencies or sites operate intentionally or as useful idiots to promote Russian propaganda and ‘fake news. The source for this info a new group called PropOrNot, a relatively new group that been around only a couple of months. They self-describe themselves as a group of about 30 Americans of different backgrounds who have come together to fight Russian efforts and propaganda attacking the American system. They say they are remaining anonymous out of fear of assassination attempts by Russia.

    As reported by Rolling Stone,

    Forget even that in its Twitter responses to criticism of its report, PropOrNot sounded not like a group of sophisticated military analysts, but like one teenager:

    "Awww, wook at all the angwy Putinists, trying to change the subject - they're so vewwy angwy!!" it wrote on Saturday.

    "Fascists. Straight up muthafuckin' fascists. That's what we're up against," it wrote last Tuesday, two days before Timberg's report.


    Rolling Stone, a center-left publication out of Britian, then goes on at length ripping not only PropOrNot but also the lack of journalistic standards seen in the WaPo article. Here…

    The 'Washington Post' 'Blacklist' Story Is Shameful and Disgusting

    And lest we think Rolling Stone is just an outlier, Katrina vanden Heuvel, the ultimate progressive’s progressive, also ripped the WaPo story in the following article…

    Putin Didn’t Undermine the Election. We did.

    KVH not only savages the WaPo article, she takes it further and blast the entire US media for allowing the election to turn into a reality show focusing on ‘fake news’ stories, tweets, and personalities rather than the issues.

    Though I disagree with Katrina on most issues I’ve come to like her because of her commitment to her causes and her intensity. In this case, I agree with her 100%.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  26. .

    The Houthi have formed a government in Yemen.

    Chances of an early resolution to the conflict pretty much zip.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iran has formed a government in Yemen.

      Chances of an early resolution to the conflict pretty much zip.

      Delete
    2. .

      More silliness flowing out of the boondocks of Idaho.ho.ho.

      .

      Delete
  27. How do you survive this?

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2285040/colombian-plane-crash-that-left-76-dead-wiped-out-brazilian-side-who-had-changed-flights-at-the-last-minute-as-they-travelled-for-cup-final/

    ReplyDelete
  28. AshTue Nov 29, 11:03:00 AM EST

    Donald J. Trump
    ✔ ‎@realDonaldTrump

    Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

    6:55 AM - 29 Nov 2016


    That's your man Deuce, that's your man.


    I actually agree with Ash for once.

    Very nasty statement by The Donald.

    Very nasty thing to do, burning the flag, but the Supreme Court visited the issue.

    1st Amendment issue....sacred ground, there....

    Perhaps a ticket for violating local fire ordinances....there might well be a safety concern in some circumstances....



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Burning the flag is counterproductive.

      It just pisses most people off.

      Delete
  29. That's why it's done. The only reason.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Trump is not my man. Clinton was not my woman. I have a simple policy not to vote or support sociopathic killers and war criminals. As far as anyone knows, Trump has never got anyone killed. Clinton has hands on responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

    I don't give a crap about anyone burning a flag or for that matter anyone pledging allegiance to a flag. I don't bow my head for prayer, nor do I pray. I will pledge allegiance to a cause on a case by case basis. I did that when I went into the military and did as I was directed by military authorities. Trump took no such pledge. That was his choice . I made mine.

    It is a non issue for me. If it bothers someone, they can speak for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One thing I've found refreshing in Trump is that I've yet to see him close with "God Bless America". I wonder how long that will last...

      Delete
    2. What you got against "God Bless America" ?

      Beats Rev. Wright's "Goddamn America".

      Delete
    3. God has been blessing America for a long time. It's what makes America exceptional. I pray he continues to do so, regardless if the inhabitant of the Whitehouse says it or not.

      Delete
    4. I was in a liquor store in Savannah buying some Bourbon when I saw a little hand written sign on the case register that said "We do NOT accept 1 dollar coins."

      I asked "why not?"

      He replied "The first issue did not have 'In God we Trust' on it."

      My wife checked the dollar coins we had - one has it tge other didn't.

      Delete
    5. You actually had dollar coins? Wow. I haven't seen a US dollar coin in years. I do use CN Loonies for ball markers, though.

      Delete
    6. I think we still have them. The wife's asleep so I can't look now. I did a quick Google and they talk about am edge printing.

      http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/dollarcoin.asp

      Delete
  31. Two Australian Hornet fighter planes dropped bombs in the botched coalition air strike that accidentally killed pro-Syrian regime fighters instead of Islamic State terrorists in September, Defence has confirmed.

    ...

    Vice-Admiral Johnston said the investigation ultimately found that the strikes had been carried out "in full compliance with the rules of engagement and the laws of armed conflict".

    ...

    The investigation found evidence of at least 15 deaths but did not dispute other estimates of up to 83 fatalities.

    ReplyDelete
  32. It’s Official: Trump Chooses Tom Price For HHS; Seema Verma For CMS

    Rep. Tom Price gets into an elevator at Trump Tower, November 16, 2016 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
    by CHARLIE SPIERING29 Nov 2016389

    President-elect Donald Trump is tapping Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) to be Secretary of Health and Human Services and Seema Verma as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to a release from the transition team.

    “Together, Chairman Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans,” Trump said in a statement.

    Price, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is a physician and a fierce opponent of Obamacare.

    “It is an honor to be nominated to serve our nation as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Thanks to President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Pence for their confidence,” said Rep. Price. “I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead and enthusiastic for the opportunity to be a part of solving them on behalf of the American people.”

    Trump called Price the “ideal choice” for the position, as he already has experience drafting a repeal and replace option for Obamacare.

    “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible healthcare to every American,” Trump said in a statement.

    After accepting Trump’s nomination, Price vowed to fix the healthcare system that has been crippled by Obamacare.

    “There is much work to be done to ensure we have a healthcare system that works for patients, families, and doctors; that leads the world in the cure and prevention of illness; and that is based on sensible rules to protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit,” he said.

    Trump’s pick to serve as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is from the private sector.

    Verma is the President, CEO and founder of SVC, Inc., a national health policy consulting company, giving her a wealth of experience of working with the government health care options.

    According to the release, she helped design consumer-first solutions for Indiana’s health care system under Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Governor Mike Pence.

    “I am honored to be nominated by President-elect Trump today,” said Verma in a statement. “I look forward to helping him tackle our nation’s daunting healthcare problems in a responsible and sustainable way.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/29/official-trump-chooses-tom-price-hhs-seema-verma-cms/

    Don't know for sure but Seema Verma has the look and sound of some Hindu heritage to me.

    pics of Seema:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=Seema+Verma+pics&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS698US698&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=580&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3vNO2oc_QAhXlyFQKHQMxDjEQsAQIIA

    ReplyDelete
  33. Trudeau’s turn from cool to laughing stock

    Terry Glavin
    November 27, 2016

    Justin Trudeau (C) poses for a selfie with students during the First Ministers’ meeting in Ottawa, Canada November 23, 2015. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

    It was bound to happen sooner or later.

    Ever since his election as Canada’s Prime Minister last October, Justin Trudeau has revelled in global tributes, raves and swoons. He’s the Disney prince with the trippy dance moves, the groovy Haida tattoo and the gender-balanced cabinet. He’s the last best hope for globalization, the star attraction at the Pride parades, the hero of the Paris Climate Summit, the guy everyone wants a selfie with.

    Trudeau made himself synonymous with Canada. He made Canada cool again. It was fun while it lasted.
    By the early hours of Saturday morning, Havana time, Trudeau was an international laughingstock. Canada’s “brand,” so carefully constructed in Vogue photo essays and Economist magazine cover features, seemed to suddenly implode into a bonspiel of the vanities, with humiliating headlines streaming from the Washington Post to the Guardian, and from Huffington Post to USA Today.

    RELATED: Trudeau’s trouble with rose-tinted diplomacy

    It was Trudeau’s maudlin panegyric on the death of Fidel Castro that kicked it off....

    http://www.macleans.ca/news/trudeaus-turn-from-cool-to-laughing-stock/

    "God Mock Canada"

    ReplyDelete
  34. A Somali immigrant who injured 11 people at Ohio State University in a vehicle and stabbing attack, before he was shot dead, may have been self-radicalised, US officials say.

    ...

    Investigators were looking into a message posted on Facebook by Artan that contained inflammatory statements about being "sick and tired" of seeing Muslims killed and reaching a "boiling point", a law enforcement source said.

    ...

    Members of Columbus' Somali community have denounced the attack.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Carrier tweets:

    Carrier ‏@Carrier 17m17 minutes ago
    We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon.


    The Donald at work, and not even sworn in yet.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stocks are up, the dollar strengthens, the people are optimistic.....

      Delete
    2. Dollar Heads for Biggest Monthly Gain Since 2009....DRUDGE

      Delete
    3. AMERICA GREAT AGAIN: CARRIER STAYS....DRUDGE HEADLINE

      Delete
  36. Surprise Tomorrow ?

    Republicans certainly hope the rest stick with Pelosi. She, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama have done more to contribute to GOP dominance than any Republican president had managed up to now.

    Pelosi foe: Get ready for a big surprise tomorrow
    POSTED AT 5:41 PM ON NOVEMBER 29, 2016 BY ED MORRISSEY

    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/29/pelosi-foe-get-ready-for-a-big-surprise-tomorrow/

    ReplyDelete
  37. THE Australian dollar is marginally higher against its US counterpart after gains in the greenback fizzled out following strong third quarter US economic growth data.

    ...

    “These improvements confirm that a (US interest) rate hike is coming on December 14th. They also boost the chance of further tightening in 2017,” BK Asset Management’s managing director of foreign exchange strategy Kathy Lien said.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Scalia on Flag Burning:

    "If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag. But I am not king."

    Does anyone here believe Trump thinks he is king?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, but Trumps not here.

      Delete
    2. Trump's taking major heat everywhere for his comment/tweet.

      He needs a tweet reviewer to keep him out of trouble.

      Delete
    3. A new Cabinet position, Secretary of Tweets.

      Delete
    4. Once upon a merry time, so far away and long ago, Hillary wanted to ban flag burning.

      Delete
  39. Scalia sided with the majority in that case, which found the First Amendment protects political expression like setting the stars and stripes on fire.

    That doesn't mean the 78-year-old justice likes flag desecration, but it's the justices' job to interpret the Constitution, not to pass moral judgment, Scalia has said repeatedly.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, told NBC News Tuesday evening that "I would hope I could restrain myself but I'd probably want to beat the crap out of 'em," if he saw someone burning a flag.

    Manchin said he supports the First Amendment, and wouldn't say that he would like to make burning the flag illegal, but said if someone wants to the burn the flag in West Virginia they should instead "just leave."

    "If you don't like us, if you're that upset with the flag that represents the greatest country in the world, leave," Manchin said, "Just leave. Don't burn the flag just leave."

    ReplyDelete
  41. Megyn Kelly is becoming insufferable.

    It's all about Megyn.

    Drag her off stage, put Tucker in her place !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 4 hours at a bar with Tucker, good times.

      w/Megyn, insufferable.

      Delete
  42. Raymond Toczek, a 66-year-old veteran who commands the Portage Park American Legion post, served the U.S. Army in West Berlin for two years in the 1970s. The flag outside his Portage Park home is illuminated 24 hours a day, he said.

    ...

    While he doesn't agree with Trump that desecrating the flag constitutes the loss of citizenship, Toczek does believe it should be a misdemeanor.

    "I'm a proponent of freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want, except for yelling 'Fire!'" he said. "But as far as disrespecting the flag, when you disrespect the symbol of our country, that's where I draw the line."

    ReplyDelete

  43. Hey… remember when Hillary wanted to ban flag burning?

    posted at 6:21 pm on November 29, 2016 by Jazz Shaw

    I know… I know… we’ve sort of beaten the whole “Trump wants to jail flag burners” thing to death today, but there’s just so much juice left in that tasty, tasty fruit. Earlier this morning, Ed Morrissey set forth the basics of why this should essentially be a constitutional non-starter. Later on, Allahpundit speculated on the Kremlinology of Trump’s tweet and what it might mean on the eight dimensional chess board. But in the rush to condemn Trump for making what may or may not have been a serious policy proposal on his Twitter feed, one little thing was overlooked. Hillary Clinton did more than talk about it on social media. She co-sponsored a bill in the Senate to criminalize it in 2005. (Fox News)

    Donald Trump came under heavy criticism Tuesday after calling for the criminalization of burning the American flag, with critics gasping that the president-elect’s words represent a threat to the First Amendment. However, Trump’s suggestions are similar to a bill pushed in the Senate in 2005 that would criminalize flag burning – a bill that was co-sponsored by then-Sen. Hillary Clinton…
    In 2005, Clinton co-sponsored the Flag Protection Act which, while it did not call for the stripping of citizenship, made flag burning with the intent to incite violence or disturb the peace punishable by a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

    The bipartisan bill, introduced by Clinton and then-Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, never made it out of the Judiciary Committee, but was floated as a compromise to a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban flag burning.

    Clinton was criticized for her stance then, although the criticisms leveled at her targeted Clinton’s perceived political slipperiness, rather than her representing a threat to constitutional liberty. A New York Times piece accused the senator of being “in pander mode.”....

    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/29/hey-remember-when-hillary-wanted-to-ban-flag-burning/

    ReplyDelete
  44. In Texas v. Johnson, the court ruled 5-4 that Gregory Lee Johnson's burning a U.S. flag outside of the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas was protected free expression. A Texas court had tried and convicted Johnson for the incident before Johnson appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    ...

    Gov. Greg Abbott has made similar statements about flag burning – promising to pass a new law honoring the flag after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last year that a state law that bans damaging the U.S. flag and the Texas flag was unconstitutional.

    ReplyDelete

  45. One thing to keep in mind is that legislators try to work their way around various Supreme Court decisions all the time. When one bill fails, they can try again with some different wording and see if they can craft something that will survive a challenge. If you really need examples of that, just look at the number of abortion bills which have been passed in various forms since Roe v. Wade was decided. In Clinton’s case, they added in the phrase, “with the intent to incite violence or disturb the peace.” We may never know if that one would have passed muster because it never made it out of committee.

    With that in mind, I suppose you won’t be shocked to see that the media feeding frenzy around Clinton at the time didn’t seem to be nearly as ferocious, accusing her of “pandering” rather than endangering the stability of our democracy. A constitutional crisis is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

    Since we’re back on the topic anyway, I wanted to take a moment and revisit AP’s Kremlinology analysis for a moment. Nobody can truly read what’s found deep in The Donald’s heart, but if I had to optimistically pick one choice on the list it would be more along the lines of what Jim Geraghty was speculating. Is it possible… perhaps even probable, that Trump is tossing out comments like that just to drive his detractors further over the edge? If he could goad a few of the marchers to begin setting Old Glory on fire in the streets of Manhattan, surely Trump realizes that public opinion in most places would begin turning against them.


    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/29/hey-remember-when-hillary-wanted-to-ban-flag-burning/

    ReplyDelete
  46. When counter-protesters ripped up an American flag at a White Lives Matter rally last month in southwest Houston, their actions - though repugnant to many - were protected by the First Amendment, thanks to a landmark Supreme Court case out of Texas decided in 1989.

    ...

    The lawyer who wrote Johnson's arguments for the Supreme Court said freedom of speech depends on allowing political expression even if it is offensive to a majority of Americans. David D. Cole, who now teaches at Georgetown Law, also said citizenship is an inalienable right.

    ...

    If Trump got to pick another justice or two after Scalia's replacement, then the 1989 decision might face a reversal, said Richard D. Parker, a criminal justice professor at Harvard Law School.

    ReplyDelete
  47. .

    The flag burning doesn't bother me. If these guys want to make asses of themselves, go for it. Just don't get in my face about it.

    Delta was perfectly right in banning that hick going off about Trump on their flight. The number one rule when your bottled up inside a tin can at 30,000 feet with a lot of other people is be civil.

    The ones that really gets me though are the protesters who decide to block a street or intersection in order to hold up traffic to 'make a point' though I've yet to hear what that point really is. Supposedly, today was some kind of 'day of rage' around here. There were protests at a lot of the Micky D's around Detroit demanding the $15 minimum wage. At one of the protest, they decided a sit-in would be a good idea so they ended up blocking Grand River Ave., a pretty big street plus Henry Ford Hospital is just down the block from the McDonald's. Needless to say the cops got there pretty quick and hauled a bunch of them to jail.

    I guess they've had politicians and university presidents et al cave so many times in the face of these type of disturbances they actually think a company like MCDonalds will do it too. They certainly can't be trying to sway the ordinary Joe that they the inconvenience or endanger with their bullshit.

    Me no likee.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These A-holes may be up against The Detroit and Environs Domestica Guardia Civil led by Commandante nom de guerra Little 'Quirkillo' Quirko soon, if they don't get manners.

      Quirkillo smokes Illusione Epernay Le Petits and Ortega Mini Habanos, and is a fierce motherfucking mountain fighter.

      http://cigardojo.com/2015/03/the-20-best-small-cigars/

      Delete
    2. At 5' 1" he's small, but powerful as a tactical nuke.

      Delete
    3. He's Hispanic by way of Poland.

      In Poland he fought both the Russians and the Germans in WWII.

      He was only a kid then.

      Delete
    4. His famous battle cry is:

      "Me no likee"

      the sound of which puts the fear of death into entire divisions at one time.

      Delete
    5. .

      ...and is a fierce motherfucking mountain fighter.


      Next week, Mt. Blanc GOES DOWN!!!! Damn straight!!!!

      .

      Delete
    6. Sure, but you're no match for Mt. Borah, though.

      Delete
    7. .


      I coulda been a contender...


      .

      Delete
  48. 'In my neck of the woods, people don't burn their flags. They actually honor their flags. I don't see why they would want to burn it,' McCarthy said.

    ...

    White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Tuesday that 'this is not the first thing that he president-elect has said or tweeteed that President Obama disagrees with.'

    'So I will let the president-elect and his team discuss the words that populate his Twitter feed. They can explain or defend those positions or those views.'

    ReplyDelete
  49. GETFREEFOODFOX.com


    https://secure.food4patriots.com/checkout/freefood/index.php?AFID=free72TV&subid=sq64xoj0_845_49035692&source=getfreefoodfox

    ReplyDelete
  50. California regulates cow farts

    By: TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press
    UPDATED:NOV 29 2016 04:23PM EST

    GALT, Calif. (AP) — California is taking its fight against global warming to the farm.

    The nation's leading agricultural state is now targeting greenhouse gases produced by dairy cows and other livestock.

    Despite strong opposition from farmers, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in September that for the first time regulates heat-trapping gases from livestock operations and landfills.

    Cattle and other farm animals are major sources of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas. Methane is released when they belch, pass gas and make manure.

    "If we can reduce emissions of methane, we can really help to slow global warming," said Ryan McCarthy, a science adviser for the California Air Resources Board, which is drawing up rules to implement the new law.

    Livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, with beef and dairy production accounting for the bulk of it, according to a 2013 United Nations report.

    Since the passage of its landmark global warming law in 2006, California has been reducing carbon emissions from cars, trucks, homes and factories, while boosting production of renewable energy.

    In the nation's largest milk-producing state, the new law aims to reduce methane emissions from dairies and livestock operations to 40 percent below 2013 levels by 2030, McCarthy said. State officials are developing the regulations, which take effect in 2024.

    "We expect that this package ... and everything we're doing on climate, does show an effective model forward for others," McCarthy said.

    http://www.fox5ny.com/news/220448846-story

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The U of Idaho Farm was studying this problem (?) some 20 years ago or more. They hadn't come up with a solution though, far as I can remember. I do recall they were saying:

      "It's a real problem"

      Quirk, you're a recognized expert on all things gaseous.

      Just how do they reduce the methane 'exhaust' from cows ?

      Shoot them ?

      Recycle ?

      Capture and neutralize the gas ?

      Delete
    2. Pass a law about passing gas.

      Delete